Page last updated on September 7, 2021 at 1:09 pm
Hi, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Tuesday, September 8th. Wanted to share this message with the public, after our labor day weekend. I have to start by saying it was a very difficult one for our community.
We actually began the weekend with a suicide, found in one of our parks. And then, on Saturday morning, a terrible triple homicide and suicide, apparently, that we found on the Southeast side of the community. Our hearts go out to that family, the victims, all who knew them. It was a tragic and terrible and heartbreaking event to learn about.
We think about all those who's family and friends affected directly. We think about police officers and responders who dealt with that and others involved in the scene. We are reminded how important mental health and taking care of each other is, in these kinds of circumstances. And, I just want, on behalf of our whole community, express our sympathy to all in connection from school systems, to work places, to friends and worship places, that are directly affected by this.
And, just remembering how important it is to take care of each other, watch out for what sometimes are impossible to see signs. But, if we do see things, this being suicide prevention month, as well, to help try to identify ways to get help. There are plenty of ways to get help. And, if you are worried, please do reach out to either to my office, or there are plenty of websites to get help. And again, our hearts go out to all those who are affected by this.
I'll turn to COVID. We continue to monitor very closely. No doubt, you've seen the rise in cases. We've seen, particularly around the university community itself, students, Greek houses with particular emergence of significant numbers of cases. We're working very closely with the university and the county Health Department. We continue our tighter restrictions in the city on gatherings, keeping them at 15 or smaller.
It's more important than ever to continue the masking and the physical distancing and the good hygiene that helps protect us from the spread. Get your flu vaccine, that's important, as well, to help tamp down this challenge. We have school systems, which I know today, locally, MCCSC is reopening some of its classrooms. So, these are challenging times. We continue to do all that we can, locally, to maximize our chances of successful community getting through this.
But, our hospitalization numbers are decent, are good. We haven't seen a really terrible rise in hospitalization cases or deaths. But, we know we have the virus being spread among us. So, being extra careful, quarantining, and isolating when it's appropriate, please know how important that is. If you see people who you don't think are doing the right thing, you can be friendly and ask them and point it out. We will continue to monitor compliance with all these orders and do the best we can to get us through.
I hope you will all keep taking care of each other, keep taking care of yourself, and keep taking care of Bloomington. We'll be busy this next week or two with budgets and hearings. But also, continuing to work on the COVID situation. And, I'll just close again by, this hard weekend for our community reminds us how much we have in common. What's most important in life and being careful and full of care for our neighbors. And, I appreciate all that you do for the city. Thank you.
